11 plus Two Odd Ones Out questions

What a Two Odd Ones Out question looks like

Two Odd Ones Out is a vocabulary format in 11 plus verbal reasoning. Five words are given. Three of them share a connection that the question never states, and your child marks the two that do not share it. The wording is the same every time: three of these words belong together, mark the two that do not. The name sits close to the Non-Verbal Reasoning project called Odd One Out, so separate them at once: that one works on drawn figures and asks for the single figure that breaks a rule, where this one works on written words and asks for two.

How the answer is recorded matters, because children lose marks there before they lose them on the reasoning. Two words are marked, never one. The order makes no difference, so marking shark and then eagle is the same answer as marking eagle and then shark. Marking a third word does not add to the answer, it pushes out the word chosen first, which is how a child who keeps tapping ends up submitting a pair they never meant.

The connections come from two families. Most questions turn on what a word is: three birds among a bat and a butterfly, three brass instruments among an easel and a palette, three metals among granite and marble. The rest turn on what a word means: three words for very big, three for very angry, three for making no sound. The second family is harder, because the words that do not belong are close enough to look as though they might.

One more thing before the examples. The two odd ones out sometimes belong together in their own right, as oak and maple do among three birds, and sometimes they have nothing to do with each other. A child hunting for a matching pair will get the first kind and stall on the second.

Example one

shark, eagle, cat, dog, horse

Look for the three that belong, not the two that do not. Try pets: that is cat and dog, only two, so it is the wrong idea. Try wild animals: shark and eagle, two again. Try mammals: cat, dog and horse, which is exactly three. A shark is a fish and an eagle is a bird, so neither of them fits.

The answer is shark and eagle.

The tempting wrong choice is cat and dog, because pets is the first connection most children see. It fails on the count, and counting is the quickest test there is: a connection that gathers two words, or four, is not the one the question was built on.

Example two

basil, parsley, lettuce, mint, vinegar

Vinegar is obviously odd, and that is the danger: once a child has one answer they stop thinking. Say the connection as a full sentence instead. Basil, parsley and mint are herbs, grown for their leaves and used in small amounts to flavour food. Lettuce is a leaf you eat too, but by the plateful as a salad, so it is not a herb. That leaves exactly three.

The answer is lettuce and vinegar.

Lettuce is the word that tempts, because it is green, leafy and eaten, and “leaves you can eat” fits four of the five words. A sentence that fits four is too loose. Sharpening it to “used in small amounts to flavour something else” fits exactly three.

Example three

small, huge, enormous, tall, gigantic

This one comes from the meaning family. Huge, enormous and gigantic all mean very big in overall size. Small means the opposite. Tall is about height only: a tall glass is not a big glass.

The answer is small and tall.

Small is easy. Tall is the word that costs marks, because it really is a size word, and a child who has decided the connection is “size” keeps it and then marks one of the real three to make up the pair. The connection is not size in general but one particular meaning, very big, which tall does not carry.

How to answer it

1. Read all five words before choosing anything. The connection is a property of the whole group, so a decision made on the first two words is a guess.
2. Hunt for the three that belong, not the two that do not. The three share something; the two often share nothing at all, so they are far harder to spot.
3. Say the connection out loud as a full sentence: they are all mammals, they are all instruments you blow, they all mean very tired. A sentence can be tested, where a word like “connected” cannot.
4. Count how many of the five words the sentence fits. Three is what you want. Four or five means it is too loose and needs sharpening; two means it is the wrong idea, so try another.
5. Mark the two words left over, check that exactly two are marked, then submit.

Common mistakes

• Starting with the odd ones. In shark, eagle, cat, dog, horse the two answers are a fish and a bird, which have nothing in common. Only the group of three is reliably findable.
• Expecting the odd two to pair up. They do in some questions, where oak and maple are trees among three birds, or cherry and plum are fruits among root vegetables. Assuming it every time strands a child on the rest.
• Accepting a connection that fits four words. “Things in a kitchen” covers a cupboard, an oven, a whisk, a spoon and a fork. “Things you hold in your hand to cook with” covers exactly three of them.
• Keeping the near miss. Tall among huge, enormous and gigantic. Lettuce among basil, parsley and mint. Arrive among start, commence and launch. Each one is close enough to feel right, and none of them carries the shared meaning.
• Going by topic instead of by kind. Melody and rhythm belong to music, but they are not instruments. An author and a reader belong to books, but they are people. Thread belongs to clothing, but it is not an item of clothing.

How to practise 11 plus Two Odd Ones Out questions

The habit that carries a child through this format is naming the group of three out loud and then counting. Children who do that stop guessing almost at once. When one goes wrong at home, do not hand over the answer. Ask which three words belong together and why, because the mistake is nearly always in the sentence rather than in the vocabulary. Little and often beats one long weekend session here, as it does across eleven plus preparation, which is the case we set out in how much 11 plus practice a child needs each day. 11+ Daily has a Two Odd Ones Out project alongside the other verbal reasoning formats, on laptop, tablet or phone, and the full list is on our 11 plus verbal reasoning practice page. Every question is original to 11+ Daily, nothing is a past paper and nothing is licensed from another publisher, and the bank is re-checked in rounds.

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